Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you'll enjoy reading about my quilts and travels. I make lots of quilts, many as gifts, some for charity, and a few on commission. I love to travel and I own a car, but I am afraid to drive in heavy traffic. So I often use public transportation to visit big cities. I don't just go on trips--I have adventures!

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

I made no progress this week on Every Seven Minutes quilt. I lost my momentum after coming home from San Diego. It doesn't have a deadline, so I haven't had motivation to get moving on it. I've been in a sort of creative lull.

However, yesterday I got inspired to created a small mixed media quilt for my co-worker and close friend Thomasina W., in honor of her birthday. This is the first quilted greeting card I've made, and I have a feeling it's just the beginning of many more.

Quilted Birthday Card - Mixed Media

For co-worker and close friend Thomasina W.

Fabric, paper, beads

Mostly from stash

Approximately 5" x 7"

Completed 6/26/2012

Greeting card from the dollar store, fabrics from stash

Fabric is folded in half, not wide enough to cover the card

Cut, sewed along long edge

Pressed open, now larger than the card

Black strip cut, sewn along short edge

Pressed open, then long edges folded under to form a long, skinny strip

Black strip covers the center seam of the red fabric, adds interest

Quilt sandwich, pinned together, sewed about 1/2" in from the edge

As seen from the back

Trimmed to 1/4" from stitching, zigzagged over edges, did some free-motion quilting. Realized I should have attached black strip before zigzagging. Didn't want zigzag over zigzag, so pressed under edges of black strip, top stitched very close to edge of strip.

As seen from the back.

Removed center of the card. Saving for another project. Pink polka dot design will look cute.

Cut a nice shape from the card

Top stitched paper to the quilt

Figuring out placement of gold beads. Two sizes. I like the variety.

All done!

From the back

Another look

Tonight I bought a few supplies to make another quilted card, which I'll work on this weekend. Also, I really want to get going on Every Seven Minutes. The strips are sewn. I just need to arrange them on the design board, cut background fabrics and start assembling. Hopefully I'll have made real progress on it this time next week.

I missed last week's WIP Wednesday post. I had just gotten home from visiting my daughter Lisa in San Diego for her 30th birthday, and I forgot all about it until the next day. So I'm doing a little catch-up. By the way, I will post about my trip soon.

Every Seven Minutes Quilt

Railroad Crossing Blocks

San Diego Trolley

Inspiration for Every Seven Minutes Quilt

On several trips I stayed in a motel next to a trolley stop. Trolleys came every 14 minutes, but traveled in both directions. So, about every seven minutes I'd hear warning bells.

Above: 16 strip sets for the Railroad Crossing blocks. I made these during my trip, with my toaster-sized Janome Sew-Mini sewing machine. It's slow but gets the job done. At 1" x 3" the strips mimic the dimensions of the trolley cars, which are about 3 times longer than they are high.

Found this great greeting card with a motorcycle jacket with working zippers.

Tag says "Happy Birthday, Rebel."

Made a quilt sandwich with same theme print on the back.

Sewed about 1/2" inside the edge.

Trimmed to about 1/4" from sewn line, zigzagged on edge.

Did some free-motion quilting, kind of outlining the bikes.

Close-up of quilting

Figuring out placement of the jacket

Jacket peeled right off the backing.

Back of the jacket. Surprised it was so nicely done with lining type of fabric.

Some of the embellishments being considered

Map is a piece of scrapbook paper. While figuring out placement of the jacket, noticed the words Clarksburg and Washington on the map. Clarksburg is the street we lived on for 23 years and where daughter Lisa grew up. Lisa lived in the state of Washington twice. Wow! I made sure the words were prominent in the final product.

Getting the placement just right

Sewed around the edge of the paper.

Close-up of stitching on the map

Using tape to keep the jacket in place for sewing. Should mention that I used double-stick tape under the shoulders, neck and tabs at the waist. I didn't want to stitch over those areas. Hopefully the tape will hold.

Jacket sewn in place

I stopped here for the night, later working on the piece on the train to San Diego to visit my daughter. I sewed on red buttons and silver snaps on the train, getting most of them done before I arrived in San Diego. I presented the unfinished piece to Lisa at her birthday party, then finished it a couple of days later - adding the remaining buttons, snaps, as well as chain (in two corners).

Finished piece

Close-up showing Washington and Clarksburg

Close-up of one of the chains

Back of the quilt

The print was so cute and I wanted Lisa to be able to see all of the motifs, some of which were covered by the jacket and/or map on the front.